Chapter 20
Aknankamon let out a tired sigh as he looked at the chaos in the distance. He could have sworn he could hear the cries of distress of the warriors, and their utter disbelief to be removed from this realm.
He looked down at the pendant he wore around his neck and almost thought of using it, when he remembered that the power that the Items possess should be used during desperate times.
And not during simple quarrels among men.
He turned his head to look at the members of his court, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at his brother who was standing farther away from him.
Eversince his son was born, the other have been adamant on telling him what kind of trouble his son could cause to the whole land of Egypt if ever he will sit on the throne.
The once proud Egyptian nation will fall before an unseen enemy his son is unprepared for.
"And that," his brother's words echoed in his mind. "is the reason why your son is unprepared to be king."
He could remember what he said to the other. "I know that my son will be a great Pharaoh when the time comes. I don't say this as a means of praise of a father, but a king who evaluates the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses that will make my successor strong."
"Even if-"
"Enough." he told his brother, his voice firm and commanding. "I will not have this discussion anymore."
"Pharaoh." a voice spoke. And he was woken from his thoughts. He turned to face the caller.
It was Shada. The one who replaced his father. When the older had retired to the countryside to tend his lands.
"How may I help you?" he asked.
The younger bowed low at the waist and handed out a folded piece of paper to him. He looked at it for a while and took it, giving a silent nod of thanks.
He retreated back inside his tent and opened the small piece of paper that was given to him.
He smiled as he saw his son's handwriting greeted him.
"Father,
I know that you're away and wouldn't be back for a long time. Isis and Siamun have been helpful in teaching me how to rule for when my time comes although I would never wish to lose you so early.
Atemu and I have been busy as of late with our duties to our people. I know that you believe in us to handle such a huge responsibility someday.
And we will never fail you.
Please be safe. May the Gods grant us swift victory.
Atem."
A small smile made its way across his face after reading his son's letter. Although it was against tradition to not include all of the titles as befits a Prince of Egypt and had likely broke it, he couldn't help himself to forget it and just let it slip.
He loved him more than a mere mistake.
His expression turned grim as he remembered the day that he had went to the temple to appease the monsters concerning his son.
He paid a huge price in order for his children not to be harmed by his mistake alone.
And it was best for him not to indulge in it.
He's strong and have a long way to go. And a dream to fulfill.
A dream in which all people in every walks of life could live a life of peace and happiness, devoid of any warfare and distress.
A reign in which he wished to bestow upon his children after his passing. Where the two could relax for all the days of their life.
"Princess Atemu wishes to speak with you, my lord." a voice spoke and Atem looked up from his scrolls to look at the servant.
"Send her in." he told him. The servant bowed low and exited backwards from the room.
He let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes and leaned back on his chair, and waited for his sister to appear.
Atemu entered her brother's study-which was their father's and bowed at the waist as expected of her status.
"Atemu." she could hear her brother's intonation of her name. "How can I help you?"
She looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back and gestured for her to sit down in one of the chairs infront of his desk.
"Brother, there is something urgent that we must discuss." she told him, her voice serious.
He nodded slowly, as he assessed the tone of her voice. She rarely asks for a time alone with him and if she did, it's always something serious.
"What is it?"
"It's more dire than we thought it would." Shada reported as he stood infront of their king. "Perhaps we should-"
"No." Aknankamon answered as he already knew what the other was saying. "We must ascertain everything before we resort to that."
"But Pharaoh, if we don't-"
"Our enemies have no advantage against us if we ever use the shadows as a means to end this war." the king said. "But even then, we must be fair in fixing disputes like this. There must be a reason why they're doing this."
"Their reason is none other than conquering Egypt." a voice spoke and the Pharaoh looked up to see his brother entering the tent, the side of his face overshadowed by the hood. "With a powerful nation like ours, they could strike fear to our neighbors themselves."
He let out a sigh and again shook his head. "As I said, we will not resort to the powers of the shadows."
'Even if will provide a swift victory for us.' he thought grimly. 'But the Gods wouldn't want it this way.'
Akunadin looked at his brother and a dark thought entered his mind. For years he have slaved under his brother's reign, the throne away from him.
He had performed the darkest magical spell in their history, but his brother is the one who had reaped the results.
His brother, the Pharaoh of all Egypt.
A position in which he imagined himself to be as, but then, the Crown Prince came and everything vanished to dust.
He was satisfied with being the second, but the Princess had usurped him and thus he began to think that there's no chance for him or his family to ever ascend the throne.
Which he believes is rightfully his.
He looked at his brother the same way a subject would do to a king, but deep inside he harbored everything that he has.
Everything that was supposed to be his.
'One day,' he thought as he looked at his brother who was bent over the maps, pointing out his ideas. 'It will be my son on the top and yours at the bottom.'
He swore it in his mind to make it come true.
"What do you mean?" Atem demanded as he stood up from his chair, his eyes on his sister. "What are you talking about?"
Atemu looked at him, her jaw tight as she waited for what he would do next. The Prince was known for being stubborn to the point that he would defy anything in order for what he feared would not come to pass.
But there's nothing he can do with what the future had in store for all of them. Even the Gods could do nothing againts it.
The Prince shook his head. "No, it can't happen."
"It can and it will." she told him firmly. And her face softened as she saw his expression. "And whatever we do couldn't change it."
"There must be a way-"
She shook her head. "It will happen. But it is unknown when and where. That's why I ask you now: If I were to die, will you carry on and find another?"
He balked at the question. What kind of question was that? He knows that everyone dies, even Gods do, but to ask of that from him, when his sister is clearly well at this time was unheard of.
The Princess knew what kind of question she had asked her older brother. No one is sane enough to ask that. And not one who would dare ask the closest sibling.
But something is in the works, she was sure of it. And a death of one is inevitable. Who is it, she doesn't know.
'If it were me,' she thought. 'I'm prepared to risk everything just to keep my brother safe from harm.'
A voice spoke in her mind. 'But are you prepared to risk the grief that would result from your demise?'
'No one is safe in this palace.' she answered back. 'Even if I'm the child of the Pharaoh. We're all part of a game in which the stakes are higher than a mere child's play.'
She looked up at her brother who had sat down his chair again, his eyes instead trained on the papyrus infront of him.
'And my brother would be the center of it all.' she thought. 'Our father knows that he will be triumphant against those who would dare challenge him. He has a certain affinity with everything. For everything is a game for him. But there is one game that he would need to triumph against. One that will be determine the fate of the world.'
"We are losing more and more men." Shawn reported to his king. "And I wouldn't be surprised to see if those barbarians," he spat. "have the chance to over run us."
Aknankamon let out a tired sigh. It have been months since he had last seen his children, the peace and tranquility of his capital city. With the sounds of people going about their everyday lives without a tint of danger in their lives.
Not unlike his own. Not unlike his children.
He had personally trained both of them to keep a wary eye against possible threats and enemies in the court.
For the royal court is the most dangerous place a person could ever hope to enter and survive within its jaws.
He looked out into the distance, wondering how his children were faring with him far away. Not all people harbor the same feelings that some of his sacred guardians are to his children.
And he hoped that not what he is thinking would not come to pass. Immediately after this, he will go home to his children.
A small smile made its way across his face as he thought of what they're going to do. A small vacation for them would be in order.
To forget everything that had happened.
'Wish you are here, Arsinoé.' he thought sadly as he looked up at the sky. 'You should've been proud of your children as I am.'
"You're right, Aknankamon." Arsinoé thought as she looked through the orb, at her husband's image. "I would have been a proud mother and Queen to have them as children."
She waved a hand over the orb and the images shifted to their children, who are in the palace gardens, piles of scrolls scattered around them.
"Your children are quite intelligent." a voice spoke. The Queen of Egypt turned her head to look at the owner of the voice.
And saw to her suprise, the goddess of truth and balance.
"Ma'at, " she breathed out as she bowed her head in respect to the goddess. "may I ask what you're doing here?"
Ma'at smiled at the royal before her, her whole being giving off a soft glow. Her eyes then trained on the orb showing the images of the living world.
"Your family is resilient," the goddess praised. "But even that could never defeat their purpose."
Arsinoé frowned and stepped towards the goddess. "What do you mean?"
The goddess let out a sigh. "Dangerous times are ahead. And we're all required to play our roles to make it come upon."
"What-"
"Arsinoé," Ma'at said her name firmly, causing the queen to looked at her. "your family was always part in the grand scheme. And this one, I'm afraid is one that we gods couldn't do against."
Realization hit her, as the words sink through her being.
"What," the queen gasped as she tried to shake the thought out of her head. "You don't mean-"
"Yes." the goddess nodded. "But events like this are better to be left alone rather than to try to change it."
"Matters of the situations are not supposed to be indulged in." a voice spoke. And the two women turned to look at the owner of the voice.
Isis stepped inside the room, her multicolored wings disappeared in the air. The goddess of magic then stood beside them.
Her brows furrowed upon the images in the orb. "These things are not meant to be discussed in such a manner."
Ma'at rolled her eyes at Isis' words. She let out a sigh. "You as well as I that the truth itself has no bounds when it comes to inevitable things."
"Even so." the goddess of magic retorted back. "Is it not written in our law to not indulge with the mortals concerning the matters of the world?"
The goddess of truth looked at her colleague. "It might be our law, Isis, but Arsinoé is no longer tied to the realm of the living," as she said this, she looked at the former queen who was was busy watching the images on the orb.
But still listening to their conflict.
Ma'at turned back to her colleague. "she is one of us now, and she knows that she can no longer do anything in her state."
Isis didn't say anything for she knew that the other has a point in which they all stand, but for her, matters concerning the world are not to be divulged to a mere human, regardless even if they are longer in the living.
She let out a sigh. "That might be so," she then looked at the orb again. "but then...people make their path."
Atem mused as he bit the inside of his chin, deep in thought. He wondered as to what his sister was thinking when she had asked him the question.
A question that he was dreading to answer.
I ask you now: If I were to die, will you carry on and find another?"
'What was she thinking?' he thought to himself as he frowned. 'What made her ask?'
He placed a hand under his chin as he mused over it. There must be a main reason why she asked.
But what?
Shada walked briskly through the camp, his hand clenched tight on the scroll he held. He could've sworn that the messenger was beyond bluffing.
As if Egypt will fall.
He mocked the thought as he walked briskly through the camp. But a thought never escaped him the possibility of Egypt falling.
Especially now.
He had a time to look around his surroundings as he considered their state. When it comes to numbers and skills, their army has the stand.
But weapons?
He shook his head as he neared the king's tent and entered it, hoping that his thoughts are only his own.
"I will never resort to using the Items as a weapon." he heard the Pharaoh said as he entered the tent and saw his king talking to the officials.
"This weapons were created to establish peace not fear." he continued.
"But my king!" he heard one of the advisors asked. Shawn. "What will we do? At this moment, Egypt might fall if we don't resort to-"
Aknankamon looked up at the speaker with a glare. "The gods surely won't let that happen. For now, we must fight with what we have."
On second thought, the letter could wait.
Atem let out a deep sigh as he sat down in one of the benches in the garden, and cleared his mind of duties that he had just gone through.
No one in his right mind would say that being the Pharaoh of all Egypt was an easy task. It was way bigger than what he assumed it would be.
But for now...he wanted to bask in the rest that he is in right now, before he returned to his duties.
That is, of being the temporary Pharaoh until his father returned from the war that had been going on for months now.
His father...he truly wished that the older was safe.
He wouldn't know what to do if...he shook his head as he refused to entertain the thought.
"Rough day?" a voice spoke. He turned his head to find the voice and saw his sister standing at his left.
"Atemu…" he breathed as he looked at the younger.
"Mind if I sit?" she asked and he nodded as he made space. She let out a sigh as she sat down beside him.
For a while, no one spoke from either of them.
"How are you?" he asked, breaking the silence between them.
"I'm fine." was the clipped answer. "Although, quite worried for father."
"Me too." he admitted as he looked back at the garden. "He never left this long before."
She nodded. "I know."
He turned to look at her again. "Atemu, I…"
"Not now." she told him. "Not when someone is listening. I'll tell you everything in due time."
He nodded. "I know. But I just wanted to ask…"
"Your thoughts are clear as day." she teased, breaking the tension between them.
"Yours are clearer." he teased back as he nudged her with his elbow which she poorly dodged and he hit her side.
"Stop it." she chastised with a laugh. "You know that you must act with dignity and grace."
He chuckled. "True. And I realize something." he said, his face serious as he looked at her.
"What?" she asked, as she faced him. Her violet eyes curious.
The Prince let out a sigh as he looked up at the sky. "That our world is as dangerous as it could get. And our words would only remain as thoughts for if used against you, could spell your demise. "
The Princess nodded. "True. But as they say, there is a right time for everything. And that is one that we should give attention to."
Atem nodded and let out a relieved sigh as he looked up at the sky. His thoughts far ahead.
For now, he would enjoy the moment he have with his sister. And the time to recollect his thoughts about their father and their future.
May: Okay! Another update as promised! Though this one should have been last week. Anyways...I'm setting up a poll to know what you, my readers would like one of my stories for me to focus on. It helps that I would know your output and also for me to concentrate in just one plot. I promised you all that after this chapter...the plot will thicken. So, please continue reading and wait for updates!